Overview

The growth of America's GDP in the year to the fourth quarter was revised upward to 3.9% from the previous estimate of 3.7%. The ISM index of manufacturing activity fell by more than expected in February to 55.3, although it still indicates expansion.

Inflation in the euro area ran at 2.0% in the 12 months to February, up from 1.9% in the year to January. Unemployment in France rose to 10.0% in January, the highest level in five years. In Germany, another 161,000 people were added to the ranks of the unemployed in February, thanks partly to the effects of recent labour-market reforms. Just over 5.2m Germans are now unemployed, the highest level since the 1930s. The jobless rate in February rose to 11.7%.

Despite disappointing GDP figures recently, Japan's industrial production rose by 1.1% in the year to January.

Canada's economy grew by 3.0% in the year to the fourth quarter.

GDP in Australia grew by only 0.1% in the fourth quarter of last year, its slowest rate for four years. That left GDP 1.5% higher than a year earlier, down from annual growth of 4.5% in the fourth quarter of 2003. Despite this, the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates by a quarter point, to 5.5%, because of concerns that the tight labour market could cause inflation to rise.

The growth of global GDP slowed late last year. The Economist's world GDP indicator grew by 4.2% in the year to the fourth quarter, down from 5.2% in the first half of last year. Countries that account for 76% of world output have now published their fourth-quarter GDP numbers.